Price per sq ft defintely descreases as size increases due to all the fixed costs that dont depend upon size.
To answer your 2nd question, prime locations in LCV are stilling selling at or near peak prices. There are a ton of folks dying to get into LCV at an affordable price to them and a great home. Unfortunately, there are also alot of folks looking for those same homes who are far less price sensitive. If you are a well paid professional with young kids there probably isnt a better community to live in along the coast. The place is a veritable magnet for Relocated execs also who crave a nice community with nice amenities, great schools and nice homes. Each year a dozen or two execs come to LCV from major markets (SF, NYC, Boston, London, Paris, Scandavian metros, Asian metros). The come loaded with suitcases of cash from sales of their prior homes, big incomes and big relo packages. That wont change. It wont support the market but in a neighborhood where more than half of the people paid about 400K and are dug in with low/no mortgages turnover runs from 40 to 80 homes per year of which maybe half are very desireable. There are plenty of buyers for those homes as there always will be IMO. The other issue is when folks move alot of the longtime owners recognize the long term value and just rent there homes for $1000+ positive monthly cash flow.